https://www.maximotv.com Three-time Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Pfeiffer gave a speech at her handprint and footprint ceremony at the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA.
00:00Please welcome to the stage, the one and only Michelle Pfeiffer.
00:07Okay, alright, I have to calm down here.
00:28How am I going to get through this?
00:37Well, I have worked with both of these two brilliant beauties, not once but twice.
00:48As was mentioned before, I met them both while filming and playing Barbies on the production of I Am Sam and where Dakota was six.
01:00And Elle, I think was like two, toddling around and cut to 15 years later.
01:09I work with Elle, she's a woman on Maleficent.
01:13And I just remember thinking, how is it possible that lightning struck twice that you could have this much raw talent in one family?
01:28It's just not really fair.
01:31And it's also very daunting to be intimidated by a six-year-old's performance.
01:37I mean, you know, it's one thing, you're working with Al Pacino, you're working with Laurence Olivier and you know, but like a six-year-old, it's pretty humbling.
01:46So, oh, actually this is the third time I'm working with Dakota because Elle and Dakota are producing the production I am currently shooting in Los Angeles.
02:01They are just taking over Hollywood, these two.
02:04And they are wicked smart.
02:09They are grounded.
02:11They are hilarious.
02:13They sure know how to dress, these two.
02:17And they are incredibly kind for coming here to introduce me.
02:25Those kind words, thank you.
02:28I'm such a crybaby.
02:35So, my junior year in high school, I took a theater class for the sole purpose of getting some easy English credits.
02:49And I caught the bug.
02:54I didn't expect it.
02:56I thought the theater people were kind of odd.
03:01And, but very soon, I discovered that I fit right in.
03:10And I had this immediate sense of belonging.
03:17And apparently I was an oddball too, all this time.
03:21And, but becoming an actor, why am I feeling like really tall here?
03:28But becoming an actor was really not in, you know, not in my realm of reality.
03:37I mean, there was really no path forward.
03:39I had never, I had never met a famous person.
03:42I had never been to the theater to see a play.
03:46I rarely went to the movies.
03:48And, well, Los Angeles was just very scary place.
03:54And seemed like a world away from where I grew up in Midway City, Orange County.
04:04So, do we have some OC people out there?
04:07Yeah.
04:08So, obviously, at some point, I ultimately decided to pursue an acting career.
04:18And so, I was still living in Midway City.
04:24And I didn't have the slightest clue about how to go about that.
04:31So, I enrolled in an acting class in scary Los Angeles, where I didn't know anyone.
04:40And students were meant to, you have to source your own material.
04:47And then you prepare and you present your scene in the class.
04:54And mostly, the students would always go to Samuel French.
05:01I don't know if you all remember that.
05:03It's actually online now.
05:04It's not really a store anymore, I guess.
05:06And where they would sell famous plays that were penned by famous playwrights.
05:11Well, I didn't know that.
05:14So, I used what little resources I had and my imagination.
05:21And I went to the local Midway City Public Library.
05:27A Midway City person here?
05:30That's not possible.
05:32Oh, library.
05:35Yes, library.
05:36Remember those?
05:41So, in class, the actors here will know this.
05:51It's really kind of, hey guys.
05:53Hey.
05:54It's my Madison family.
05:56You would, you know, source your material.
06:01You would prepare your scene.
06:03And then you would get in front of the, like you guys would all be the students.
06:09And then the teacher would sit right in front and they're all kind of, and you would finish
06:12the scene and you would sit there and you would wait for your critique.
06:16And so, I did my scene.
06:19And the teacher's just kind of looking at me.
06:22And he said, what, what is this play?
06:28And I said, and I tell him the name.
06:31I can't remember.
06:32And he said, and who, sorry, who wrote this?
06:35And where did you find this material?
06:39At the library.
06:40And the class kind of snickered and they all thought that was really cute.
06:47And he just looked at me like I was some foreign alien.
06:50And as much of a odd man out that I was, I had that same deep sense of belonging.
07:09And, but I wasn't quite ready to move to scary Los Angeles quite yet.
07:17So, I'm living in Midway City and I get a job, a Ford truck commercial.
07:30And I am so excited.
07:31And my boss gives me the day off from checking groceries at Vons Supermarket.
07:37And off I set in my red Volkswagen Beetle, wearing my red terrycloth jumpsuit.
07:49Why?
07:51I don't know.
07:53I've been thinking about it and I really can't come up with a good answer.
07:58And so, I arrive at the designated meeting spot, which is the production office.
08:03It's the middle of the night.
08:05And because it's out in Malibu somewhere, I don't even know where that is.
08:10And there's no one there.
08:12So, an hour goes by and I get proposition more than once.
08:21Well, I'm in a red terrycloth jumpsuit.
08:24So, you know, like what was I thinking?
08:26So, two hours go by.
08:29The sun comes up.
08:30No one comes.
08:31And I'm like freaking out because this is my, this is my big break.
08:36And the sun is up and I know they're shooting without me.
08:39But I think, okay, well, this is a place of employment.
08:43Someone's got to show up.
08:44So, 9 a.m., someone shows up.
08:47The next thing you know, I'm in Malibu on the beach in a tank top and cut off shorts.
08:53Freezing my ass off.
08:55And I don't know how many trucks I sold that day.
09:00But all of a sudden, I am a working actor.
09:13And 40 plus years later, I am still showing up in the middle of the night freezing my ass off.
09:28And I still love my job.
09:34Maybe I love it now more, honestly, than I ever have.
09:38I love, I love actors.
09:42I love directors.
09:43I love writers.
09:44I love, love, love crews.
09:47And yes, and over time, ultimately, I grew to love Los Angeles.
09:59LA.
10:04This is my home.
10:09I look out at so many of my friends and my family and my colleagues.
10:22And, you know, this is home.
10:26And it's not such a scary place.
10:31It's actually a place where I and so many others feel safe to be who they were meant to become.
10:46I am so deeply honored.
10:53And if you had told me back then in my red terrycloth jumpsuit that I would be here today, I wouldn't have believed it.
11:11But it takes, as we all know, a village for any actor to make it up here on this stage.
11:22And I am so grateful for my village.
11:27Long careers can sometimes ebb and flow and, but the love and support has been constant and unwavering.
11:42And I can't possibly thank everyone, but it's early, early casting agents.
11:54It's the late Kate Ginsburg, Ed Lomato, Lois Smith, my CAA family, Kevin Uvain, Chris Andrews, Franklin Latt, Management 360, Susan by Mel Guymon-Cassidy, Annette Wolfe, Barry Hirsch, who has been protecting me for over 45 years.
12:22My family, my friends, my therapists, assistants, assistants, therapists.
12:37This, this industry has given me so much.
12:44A community of like-minded people.
12:49I would not have met my husband, the love of my life, David, my children, John and Claudia.
13:01And Claudia, a lifetime of doing something that you are passionate about is one of the greatest gifts of all.
